PSJD Public Interest News Digest – December 8, 2017
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello there, interested public! I’m writing to you live from this year’s annual NLADA Conference; expect to hear more about that in next week’s digest. This week, most stories sound in student loans, with news concerning virtually every aspect of the educational finance system. Also, be sure to read all the way to the end for big news out of Canada concerning civil access to justice.
Until next week,
Sam
Student Loans
- The House of Representatives introduced legislation to renew the Higher Education Act of 1965 which includes a revision to the statute eliminating Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
- In the wake of the new bill’s announcement, Credible.com published an analysis of how proposed changes might affect borrowers.
- The African-American Intellectual History Society examined the historic effects of student loan policies on African-Americans.
- Salon reported that “the total size of student loan debt is now $1.3 trillion — roughly the same size as the U.S. high-yield corporate bond market.”
- In DC Superior Court, a judge ordered a company that defrauded students of loan payments to pay a $233,000 fine and $192,824.95 in refunds to 233 city customers.
- Meanwhile, at the state level, loan repayment assistance is catching on in a variety of ways.
- And finally, Inside Philanthropy discussed how a number of high-profile gifts to universities indicate “the growing influence of private dollars in public education in an era when legislatures have cut back support for state university systems.”
Disaster Legal Aid
- In Puerto Rico, legal services and pro bono attorneys are working to help families living on properties passed across generations without formal title as they struggle to access FEMA benefits.
- The Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada created a financial toolkit for viciims of the recent shooting in Las Vegas; these people have found themselves the target of confidence scams designed to bilk them of their shares of the Compassion Fund.
- Attorneys in Northern California have been working pro bono to assist victims of the recent wildfires there.
Access to Justice – Criminal
- The Baltimore, MD public defender’s office increased its estimate of the number of cases affected by recent racketeering charges against Baltimore Police officers, saying more than 2,000 cases may be compromised.
- Oakland County and St. Clair County, MI joined fellow counties in the state in submitting a budget plan for indigent defense in order to comply with new standards set by the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission.
- In Winnebago County, IL, a judge ordered the county board to restore $326,852 to the county’s budget, saying that the cuts compromise court services and threaten public safety.
- In Nashville, TN, the chief public defender and chief prosecutor clashed as the defender’s office advocates for alternatives to cash bail; Civil Rights Corps recently sent a letter to Nashville’s top attorney threatening a lawsuit over the city’s “two-tiered system of justice.”
Access to Justice – Civil
- The Law Society of Upper Canada “approved, in principle, an action plan to help improve access to justice for Ontario families. The plan includes establishing a special licence for paralegals and others with appropriate training, to offer some family law legal services.”
Music Bonus!
Something cinematic, I think:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tvUPFsaj5s<//a>